The Data Science Specialization is taught entirely online; all assignments are graded by peers or machines.
There are three types of assignments: programming assignments; quizzes (multiple choice, short answer), and peer assessments, which may include a variety of types of problems.
Because the first two types of assignments are graded automatically, students receive instant feedback. Programming assignments are graded via unit tests so that R code is given specific inputs, and outputs are compared against correct output stored on the server.
For peer assessments a minimum of four students must grade an individual’s assignment in order for it to receive a grade.
Conversely, students cannot view their own grades until they have graded a minimum of four assignments.
Peer assessments have a grading rubric designed by the course instructors that details how points should be allocated to different aspects of the assignment.
The benefits of peer assessment are that the course can scale up to large numbers of students and that students can
learn from seeing other approaches to a problem.